Engineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket

ABSTRACT

An engineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket including a plurality of mesh units arrayed and interwoven into rows. The mesh units each have borders loop-knitted using threads to form a double-layer structure including an upper and a lower thread layer, and a plurality of curved threads that are so woven to locate between the upper and the lower thread layer and be sequentially arrayed and extended between two adjacent ones of the borders while protruding from a plane defined by the borders. The mesh units are so arrayed that the mesh units in any two adjacent rows are in staggered relation, such that a void is formed between any two adjacent mesh units.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an engineering-purpose nettedvegetation blanket, and more particularly to an engineering-purposenetted vegetation blanket for effective soil and water conservation aswell as prevention of slope soil erosion and wash-away of grass andplants to thereby achieve the purpose of greening environment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In recent years, people pay more attention to ecological resources andscenery quality. Therefore, when public constructions, such as theconstruction of roads, river banks, landfill fields, retaining walls,etc., have connection with slope stabilization, vegetation, soil andwater conservation and environmental conservation, it is a must theslope stabilization function and the safety in use be taken intoconsideration in these public constructions, so that natural, green andbeautiful scenery can be created after the public constructions arecompleted. In the past, to avoid destruction of the ecologicalenvironment and adverse influences on the natural scenery at theconstruction sites, and to create natural scenery in harmony with theexisting environment, the ecology and environment-related publicconstructions would usually adopt planting methods to green theconstruction sites, so as to create an environment in harmony with thenature.

In the conventional slope protection constructions, the riverbankprotection constructions, and the soil and water conservationconstructions, a netted vegetation blanket is spread on the earthsurface after grass and plant seeds are sown or sprayed, and the nettedvegetation blanket is further covered with soil. By doing so, plants andgrass grown on the slopes are protected against undesirable wash-away byrainwater, and soil at the slopes is protected against erosion to ensuregood soil and water conservation and greening of surroundingenvironment.

According to one of the conventional netted vegetation blankets, theblanket has three layers, including an upper grid layer, a middle fiberlayer, and a lower grid layer. The conventional three-layer nettedvegetation blanket has relatively low porosity, which prevents plant andgrass seeds below the spread blanket from growing upward and passingthrough the blanket. Further, the conventional three-layer nettedvegetation blanket has relatively loose layered structure, and the upperand lower grid layers are not a three-dimensional structure. As aresult, the grass seeds sown or spray-planted below the blanket areeasily washed away by rainwater during the construction. The poorvegetation effect in turn causes erosion of soil spread over theblanket. Further, the middle fiber layer is usually formed from naturalfibers, which are subject to damage by worms to thereby weaken theoverall structural strength of the netted vegetation blanket. Therefore,the conventional three-layer netted vegetation blanket requiresimprovement.

FIG. 1 shows another conventional netted vegetation blanket disclosed inTaiwan Patent Publication No. M249977, which is characterized in a blankblanket 10 woven from a low-shrinkage yarn, and a plurality of ribs 11made of high-shrinkage yarns. The ribs 11 are axially extended to spacefrom one another, and are provided on the same side of the blank blanket10 by way of partially weaving onto the blank blanket 10. With the ribs11 spaced on and partially woven to the blank blanket 10, a plurality ofinterwoven locations 12 and a plurality of non-interwoven locations 13are formed on the blank blanket 10. The blank blanket 10 with the ribs11 is then heated and the ribs 11 are shrunk to form a plurality ofcorrugations 14 on the blank blanket 10. The above netted vegetationblanket disclosed in Taiwan Patent Publication No. M249977 has thefollowing major disadvantage: the corrugations 14 are formed by heatingand shrinking the blank blanket 10 and the ribs 11, and have lowflexibility and elasticity. It is preferable a netted vegetation blanketcan be wound into roll form for convenient storage and transport and bestretched for use. However, the corrugations 14 will become deformed andno longer have a three-dimensional shape once the netted vegetationblanket is wound. The deformed corrugations 14 lose their intendedfunction to thereby lower the performance and effect of the nettedvegetation blanket. Moreover, with the fixedly shaped corrugations 14,the blanket wound into roll form would become too loose to be easilyhandled during transporting.

It is therefore desirable to develop an improved netted vegetationblanket to overcome the drawbacks in the conventional netted vegetationblankets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary object of the present invention is to provide anengineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket that includes a pluralityof double-layer mesh units having borders formed by loop knitting, sothat the netted vegetation blanket has good structural strength,ductility, softness and flexibility to allow stretching in bothlongitudinal and transverse directions.

Another object of the present invention is to provide the aboveengineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket, in which the mesh unitseach have a plurality of thin threads being sequentially arrayed andextended between two adjacent ones of the borders while protruding froma plane defined by the borders, so that the soft but densely distributedcurved thin threads are helpful in good attachment of grass and plantsand soil to the netted vegetation blanket.

A further object of the present invention is to provide the aboveengineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket, in which the mesh unitsin two adjacent rows are arrayed in staggered relation, so that a voidis formed between any two adjacent mesh units, allowing grass and plantsto grow and easily pass through the blanket to absorb fertilizer andsunlight via the voids.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide the aboveengineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket that can be properlyadjusted in the shape and size of the voids and the protrusion of thecurved thin threads on the blanket according to the terrain and the soilnature of the construction site, so as to enable good retaining ofcompost and reduction of soil erosion while conducting spray planting,particularly on slopes.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide the aboveengineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket that has good flexibilityand elasticity and can therefore be wound into roll form to facilitateconvenient storage, transport and spreading over the earth surface.

In brief, the engineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket according tothe present invention includes a plurality of arrayed and interwovenmesh units. The mesh units each have borders formed by loop knittingusing thick threads to thereby create a double-layer structure having anupper and a lower thick-thread layer and serve as a framing structure.And, a plurality of thin threads is located between the two layers andso woven to extend between two adjacent ones of the borders, forming aplurality of curved thin threads protruded from a plane defined by theborders. And, the mesh units are so arrayed that the mesh units in twoadjacent rows are in staggered relation, and accordingly, a void isformed between any two adjacent mesh units.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present inventionto achieve the above and other objects can be best understood byreferring to the following detailed description of the preferredembodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 is a, perspective view of a conventional netted vegetationblanket disclosed in Taiwan Patent Publication No. M249977;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary isometric view of an engineering-purpose nettedvegetation blanket according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the engineering-purposenetted vegetation blanket of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows the engineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket of thepresent invention is longitudinally stretched while being spread overthe earth surface;

FIG. 5 shows the engineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket of thepresent invention is transversely stretched while being spread over theearth surface; and

FIG. 6 shows the engineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket of thepresent invention being wound into roll form for storage.

FIG. 7 is an alternative illustration of the engineering-purpose nettedvegetation blanket according to an embodiment of the present inventionas depicted in FIG. 3.

FIGS. 8-10 show alternative mesh-unit shapes for the inventiveengineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIG. 2 that is an isometric view of anengineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket 20 according to anembodiment of the present invention. For the purpose of conciseness, thepresent invention is also briefly referred to as “the netted vegetationblanket” herein. As shown, the netted vegetation blanket 20 is formedfrom a plurality of arrayed and interwoven mesh units 22. The mesh units22 each can be round or rectangular in shape or in any other geometricalshapes, as seen in FIGS. 8, 9, and 10. In the illustrated embodiment,the mesh units 22 each are in a rectangular shape. Each of the meshunits 22 has four borders formed by loop knitting. And, in each of themesh units 22, there is a plurality of curved thin threads 25. Thesecurved thin threads 25 are so woven that they are sequentially arrayedto extend between two pairs of adjacent borders and protrude from aplane defined by the borders. Further, the mesh units 22 are so arrayedthat the mesh units 22 in any two adjacent rows are in staggeredrelation, such that a void 28 is formed between any two adjacent meshunits 22.

Please refer to FIGS. 3 and 7 that are fragmentary perspective views ofthe engineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket 20. As shown, theborders of the mesh units 22 are knitted using thick threads to form adouble-layer structure including an upper thick-thread layer 23 and alower thick-thread layer 24, so that the borders of the mesh units 22function as a structural frame. Further, as can be seen from FIG. 3, theborders of the mesh units 22 are formed by loop knitting and the curvedthin threads 25 are protruded from the plane defined by the borders ofthe mesh units 22. Further, the sequentially arrayed curved thin threads25 are flexible and elastic, and produce an opening between any twoadjacent thin threads 25, allowing sown seeds below the nettedvegetation blanket 20 to grow and pass through the openings among thecurved thin threads 25 while being supported by the latter. The threadsfor knitting the mesh units can be yarn threads, PE threads, HDPEthreads, or threads made of other suitable materials.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show the netted vegetation blanket 20 of the presentinvention in a longitudinally and a transversely stretched state,respectively, when being spread over the earth surface. To meet thegeographic profile of a slope, an embankment, or any other constructionsite, the engineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket 20 is oftenstretched or tensioned in a required direction to be optimally spreadover the earth surface. With the borders of the mesh units 22 beingformed by loop knitting, which provides good elastically restoringforce, the netted vegetation blanket 20 formed from the mesh units 22can be stretched in a longitudinal direction as indicated by the arrow30 in FIG. 4 and/or in a transverse direction as indicated by the arrow35 in FIG. 5. When the netted vegetation blanket 20 is longitudinallystretched, the mesh units 22 are deformable into longitudinally extendedunits. Alternatively, when the netted vegetation blanket 20 istransversely stretched, the mesh units 22 are deformable intotransversely extended units. With the flexibility thereof, the meshunits 22 can fully meet the requirement of being used in differentgeographical environments.

As can be seen in FIG. 6, the engineering-purpose netted vegetationblanket 20 of the present invention can be wound into roll form forstorage and/or transport. Since the netted vegetation blanket 20 isproduced using specific machines, the mesh units 22 have sufficientshape restoring ability to allow longitudinal and transverse stretchthereof, and the curved thin threads 25 have sufficient flexibility andelasticity to maintain their protruding structure even when the nettedvegetation blanket 20 is wound into roll form and then unwound for use.Therefore, the engineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket 20 of thepresent invention can be conveniently wound into roll form for storageand transport, and unwound and stretched for spreading on the earthsurface. The drawbacks of the conventional fixedly shaped 3D nettedvegetation blanket, such as not allowing convenient transport andtending to become flattened during construction, can be overcome.

The engineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket 20 of the presentinvention has an overall structure that provides sufficient softness andflexibility to enable convenient winding and transporting; the two-layermesh units 22 thereof have borders knitted with thick threads to therebyhave sufficient softness and elasticity for providing not only framingand supporting functions, but also good stretchability in bothtransverse and longitudinal directions; and the curved thin threads 25provide a soft but dense enough structure, which allows easy attachmentof sown seeds and covered soil thereto and provides sufficient spaces tohelp in the growth of the sown seeds on the netted vegetation blanket20. Further, the voids 28 among the mesh units 22 provide the advantagesof allowing easy growth of the sown seeds and facilitating easyspreading of the blanket, spray planting, and composting.

Therefore, the engineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket of thepresent invention is very suitable for protecting surface soil againsterosion and preventing grass and plants from being washed away. Once theroots of grass and plants become tangling with the netted vegetationblanket and get deep down into the soil, the netted vegetation blanketforms a protection with full flexibility to the grass and plants.

1. An engineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket, comprising aplurality of mesh units arrayed and interwoven into rows; the mesh unitseach having borders loop-knitted using threads to form a double-layerstructure including an upper thread layer and a lower thread layer sothat the borders serve as a structural frame; a plurality of curvedthreads are woven to locate between the upper and lower thread layersand are sequentially arrayed and extended between two adjacent borderswhile protruding from a plane defined by the borders, the curved threadsbeing devoid of interconnections therebetween within the mesh units; andthe mesh units being arrayed in staggered relation, such that a void isformed between any two adjacent mesh units.
 2. The engineering-purposenetted vegetation blanket as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mesh unitseach have one of a round shape and a rectangular shape.
 3. Theengineering-purpose netted vegetation blanket as claimed in claim 1,wherein the threads for knitting the mesh units are selected from thegroup consisting of yarn threads, Polyethylene threads, and High-DensityPolyethylene threads.